It has been over forty years since the Watergate scandal brought the nation to the brink of a constitutional crisis and culminated in the resignation of an American president in disgrace. That would seem enough time to put this difficult time, and the man at its center, behind us. But a couple of recent biographies released in 2015, both to critical acclaim, show that Richard Nixon is still an enduring part of our national consciousness. (Being Nixon, A Man Divided by Evan Thomas, Random House (2015); One Man Against the World by Tim Weiner, Henry Holt & Co. (2015).
In keeping with this continued interest in Mr. Nixon, I write to share a personal story.
When Richard Nixon resigned the presidency in July 1974, he retired to San Clemente, California to his seaside estate. There Mr. Nixon remained in virtual seclusion for almost four years. Except for a trip to China in 1976, he refused all invitations, numbering in the hundreds, to speak at public or private events.
That is until early 1978 when the County Judge Executive of Leslie County, Kentucky, C. Allen Muncy, invited Mr. Nixon to come to the little town of Hyden, deep in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky, to dedicate a recreation center that was to be named for him. Contrary to all expectations, Nixon accepted this invitation. And so it was that in July 1978, he travelled to Hyden to dedicate the modest public building that was to carry his name.
What ensued ranks as one of the more unusual events in recent political times and, as it turned out, a seminal turning point in Richard Nixon’s life. As an Assistant United States Attorney from Lexington, I was present for Nixon’s visit to Hyden, temporarily assigned to the Secret Service. This was just a boondoggle for me, but Nixon’s visit to Kentucky was to be an historic event, and I wanted to be there.
First some background: For the better part of the 20th Century, coal mining was the economic engine of Eastern Kentucky and the mountain counties in that region voted solidly Democratic due to the influence of the United Mine Workers. Except that is Leslie County, which, dating back to the Civil War, had always been a solidly Republican county. Indeed, the story used to be told in Kentucky political circles that in close statewide elections the saying among Republicans in Frankfort was “wait until Leslie County comes in!”
In 1978 Leslie County had a population of less than 15,000; the population of Hyden, the county seat,was less than 500. The county was poor, remote and, some would say, backward. Which is to say that Hyden was an unlikely choice for Richard Nixon to use to break his self imposed exile. But if Hyden seemed an odd choice, it was a safe place, and that was its attraction for Nixon.
When the news of Mr. Nixon’s planned visit to Hyden was released to the press, the media world, as it existed then (no cable news or 24 hour news cycle), was electrified. The three major networks announced plans have reporters and film crews present. More than 400 reporters asked for press credentials for the event, including a number from overseas. It was predicted that upwards of 20,000 people would descend on Hyden for this historic event.
The dedication ceremony was set for July 2, 1978, a Sunday. The day before, a local businessman sent his private jet to California to pick up Nixon and fly him back to Kentucky. The plane landed in London, about fifty miles from Hyden, and the former president travelled to Hyden in a motorcade.
As the Nixon motorcade drove into town that afternoon, hundreds of the good people of Leslie County lined the road, many holding signs that said things like “Welcome Mr. President” and “Nixon, Now More Than Ever.”
I arrived in Hyden the day before the dedication ceremony and made contact with the Secret Service. The first task was to do a security sweep the motel room where Mr. Nixon would stay.
Nixon would stay at the Appalachia Motel in Hyden, owned and operated by Mr. Eddie Moore. Mr. Moore had just built an extension onto the original motel, which, in honor of Mr. Nixon’s stay, and, in an apparent fit of hubris, he had named the Presidential Wing.
Mr. Nixon was assigned a standard motel room — bed, credenza, a couple of chairs and a small desk, altogether unremarkable. One item caught my attention, however. On the credenza sat two large ornamented champagne buckets. Lost at the bottom of one bucket was a small half pint of Early Times Kentucky bourbon whiskey; in the other, equally lost at the bottom, a half pint of Chevas Regal scotch whiskey. Apparently for Mr. Moore nothing was too good for a former (Republican) president, but no sense in going overboard — a half pint of whiskey ought to do!
There was a reception for Mr. Nixon that evening at the motel. Invitations had been sent out to prominent Republicans around Kentucky for the reception and the dedication ceremony but, other than former Governor Louie Nunn, only a few showed up. Republicans were still recovering from the trauma of Watergate, and there was no perceived political advantage in being seen with Mr. Nixon.
One famous Kentucky personage who did come was A. B. “Happy” Chandler, former two-term Governor of Kentucky, former United States Senator, former Commissioner of Baseball and, incidentally, a lifelong Democrat. Even though a Democrat, and a highly partisan one at that, Happy Chandler had stood by Nixon during Watergate and he came to honor his friend’s reappearance in public life.
I attended the Nixon reception and toward the latter part of the evening, when the crowd had thinned out, Congressman Tim Lee Carter of the Fifth Congressional District in Kentucky, and a Nixon stalwart during Watergate, asked me if I would like to meet the former president.
Full disclosure here — I had never been a Nixon supporter. Like most Americans, I was shocked and angered by the Watergate scandal and Nixon’s role in the affair. But he was a former president after all, so what would be the harm in meeting him?
Congressman Carter steered me over to meet Mr. Nixon. As I approached, I was struck by Nixon’s physical appearance. He was of medium height but with narrow shoulders. He had a large head that to me looked out of proportion to his somewhat slight frame. And he had long arms with big hands that again looked ill suited to his small body.
Congressman Carter introduced me as follows: “Mr. President, I want you to meet John A. West, United States District Attorney in Kentucky.” Congressman Carter got the title wrong, but Nixon got the gist of it. A note of explanation here: The U. S. Attorneys around the country are part of the U. S. Department of Justice. So when Mr. Nixon heard the title U. S. Attorney, he knew immediately I was part of the branch of government that had hounded him out of office.
Nixon shook my hand hard and fixed me with a steely look. His smile looked pasted on. And, in his eyes, I could see all the fury he harbored toward the U. S. Department of Justice. I don’t remember what was said, and recall the encounter as vaguely unpleasant.
The next day, Sunday July 2nd, was a brutally hot day with the temperature reaching into the high 90’s. The schedule called for Nixon to make the short trip from the motel to the recreation center in the old 1956 Cadillac limousine that he had used as Vice-President in the 1950’s, then privately owned in Portsmouth, Ohio. During the Eisenhower Administration this vehicle was known as the Queen Mary.
The motorcade drove slowly into town around noon. Nixon rode in the old Cadillac limousine with the top down, seated in the back with Congressman Carter, waving to the crowd. The motorcade route was sparsely lined with people, a pale shadow of times past. It was later estimated that the crowd outside the recreation center numbered maybe a thousand, not the 20,000 that had been predicted.
The dedication took place in the recreation center’s gymnasium, which was set up to seat about four thousand invited guests. It was filled to the gills by the time Nixon and the motorcade arrived. Unfortunately the air conditioning system was not yet operational, and the combination of the packed crowd inside, no AC and 95 plus degree heat outside made the whole affair unbearable.
The event began with introductions of local public officials, and then a beaming Judge Executive Muncy announced simply “Ladies and Gentlemen, the 37th President of the United States, Richard Nixon.” The crowd gave Nixon a boisterous welcome. He spoke for more than a half an hour. It was a stock stump speech, which Nixon had given many times as a candidate and as president — the spirit of the American heartland, the dangers of the “new left,” (aimed apparently at the Carter Administration), Communism and the need for tough action to back up tough talk, and so forth. At one point Nixon took off his suit coat showing his back in the process, which was soaked with sweat. He got a standing ovation at the end.
And then this remarkable event was over. Nixon and the Secret Service agents left the gymnasium, piled into the motorcade cars and headed out of town, making for London and the plane that would take Nixon back to California. I followed for a short while, but when the motorcade speed got to 90 mph, and my old Chevy started shaking, I fell off the pace. If the Secret Service needed legal advice, they would have to fend for themselves.
After the Hyden visit Richard Nixon was “out,” his word, his period of self-exile over. Looking back it is clear that the friendly reception he received from the people of Leslie Country encouraged him to make similar public appearances around the country, which he did. Later in 1978 he travelled to England, where he addressed the Oxford Union, hecklers and all, and met with many British leaders, including an enthusiastic Margaret Thatcher, then less than a year away from becoming prime minister.
In 1979 the Nixons moved to New York City, and in 1981 to Saddle Brook, New Jersey. For the next dozen or so years Nixon frequently travelled abroad meeting with world leaders, gradually restoring his reputation as a statesman of the world. Presidents Reagan, Bush and Clinton all sought his counsel on foreign policy issues.
Nixon died in 1994. A memorial service was held on the grounds of the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, California. The service was attended by President and Mrs. Clinton, four former presidents, with wives, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Senator Minority Leader Bob Dole, and many dignitaries. I watched the service live on TV. It was a solemn and beautiful affair. Both Bob Dole and Henry Kissenger choked up during their eulogies.
In his remarks President Clinton concluded: “Today is the day for [Nixon’s] family, his friends and his nation to remember President Nixon’s life in totality. To them let us say, may the day of judging President Nixon on anything less than his entire life and career come to a close.”
Richard Nixon would have been pleased with the president’s words. By sheer grit and hard work he had redeemed himself. And it’s fair to say that his path to redemption began, improbably, in a small isolated mountain town in Eastern Kentucky on a very hot Sunday afternoon in July 1978.
*****
Ironically, a little more than a year after the Nixon visit to Hyden, C. Allen Muncy, the Leslie County Judge Executive who had invited Richard Nixon to Hyden, was indicted by a federal grand jury under the federal mail fraud statute for using the mails in connection with a vote fraud scheme in Leslie County. In due course Mr. Muncy was tried, convicted and sentenced to prison. The appeals court affirmed the conviction. Muncy served approximately five years in prison before his sentence was vacated based on a decision of the U. S. Supreme Court reinterpreting the scope of mail fraud statute. He now lives in Hyden.
John A. West
January 2016
Westwind 
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